Where is God?

Oh my friends . . . my heart, like yours, is heavy tonight.  What a tragedy was inflicted today in Boston. 

I wish I had great words of insight, wisdom and comfort to share with my friends and family.  But I don't.  All I know is - God is good.

He doesn't seem good tonight, though, does he?  He seems . . . absent.  People always want to know, where was God?  Where was he during a tragedy?  Where was he during the fear and horror?  Why did he turn away?

And people always have pat answers:  He was right there, all the time, watching.  (What does that mean, that he's a masochist?  Standing by watching tragedy unfold in some kind of gleeful way?)  He wanted to be there but the people ignored him.  (Ridiculous.  This implies that our omnipotent, omniscient God sits around like a wimp and waits for people to pay attention to him.)  He was allowing his judgment to unfold against the people of the marathon.  (I almost can't stomach this thought.  God doesn't "accidentally" allow innocent people to be hurt in his judgment.  And furthermore, God doesn't judge like that anymore - our Messiah paid for our judgment.)

So where was God today?  Why did allow this to happen?  Why does he allow all this tragedy, this hurt, to occur in the world?

My answer?  I don't know. 

All I know is this:

When the world is bad, my God is good.
When man gives himself over to sin and violence, my God is good.
When the worst is happening, my God is good.
When life seems out of control, my God is good.

How do I know this?

Because I know him.  I've known him for a long time now, and I've always seen his goodness.  His love, his mercy, his power.

Don't be fooled into thinking that my God is surprised today, terrified about what's happened.  He's not wringing his hands, wondering what will happen tomorrow.

My God is good.  Even when I don't see good.  My God is good.